fess he was wrong, but he argued; but
Samuel with a word reproved, and convicted, and silenced, and sentenced
him. And so in the Day of Judgment all our actions will be tried as by
fire. The All-knowing, All-holy Judge, our Saviour Jesus Christ, will
sit on His throne, and with the breath of His mouth He will scatter
away all idle excuses on which men now depend; and the secrets of men's
hearts will be revealed. Then shall be seen who it is that serveth
God, and who serveth Him not; who serve Him with the lips, who with the
heart; who are hypocrites, and who are true.

God give us grace to be in the number of those whose faith and whose
love is without hypocrisy or pretence; who obey out of a pure heart and
a good conscience; who sincerely wish to know God's will, and who do it
as far as they know it!

[1] Fourth Sunday after Trinity.

[2] 1 Sam. x. 8.

SERMON IV.

The Call of David.

"_So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a
stone._"--1 Samuel xvii. 50.

These words, which are taken from the chapter which you heard read just
now in the course of the Service[1], declare the victory which David,
the man after God's own heart, gained over Goliath, who came out of the
army of the Philistines to defy the Living God; and they declare the
manner of his gaining it. He gained it with a sling and with a stone;
that is, by means, which to man might seem weak and hopeless, but which
God Almighty blessed and prospered. Let no one think the history of
David's calling, and his victory over Goliath, of little importance to
himself; it is indeed interesting to read for its own sake; it raises
the mind of the Christian to God, shows us His power, and reminds us of
the wonderful deliverances with which He visits His Church in every
age; but besides all this, this history is useful to us Christians, as
setting before us our own calling, and our conflict with the world, the
flesh, and the devil; as such I shall now briefly consider it.

David, the son of a man in humble life, and the youngest of his
brethren, was chosen by Almighty God to be His special servant,--to be
a prophet, a king, a psalmist; he was anointed by Samuel to be all
this; and in due time he was brought forward by Almighty God, and as a
first act of might, slew the heathen giant Goliath, as described in the
text. Now let us apply all this to ourselves.

1. David was the son of a Bethlehemite, one among the families of
I